Expanded-metal manufacture



June 30, 1925. 1,544,269

H. M. NAUGLE ET AL EXPANDED METAL MANUFACTURE Filed May 19 1924 2Sheets-Shet 1 IQ. C Q Q June 30,1925. I 1,544,269

H. M. NAUGLE ET AL EXPANDED METAL MANUFACTURE Filed May 19,1924, 2Sheets-Sheet 2 W W m WW M "AliHMIMMMMMIWHI ma'n'rmmwmwnmu ll II PatentedJune 30, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY M. NAUGLE AND ARTHUR J. TOWNSEND, 0F CANTON, OHIO; I

EXPANDED-METAL IVIANUFACTURE.

Application filed May 19, 1924. Serial No. 714,335.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY M. NAUGLE and ARTHUR J. TOWNSEND, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and Stateof Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inExpanded-Metal Mahufacture, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to methods and apparatus for making expanded metallath and the like, and involves further improvements in the methods andapparatus set' forth in our pending application, filed June 1, 1922,Serial No. 565,127.

The objects of the present improvements are to eliminate the preliminarysteps of pickling, cold rolling and annealing in the production ofexpanded metal, to avoid im perfections in the product, losses inproduction, and decrease difliculties in operation, resulting from theexpansion of a Wide strip into a sheet having a plurality of expandedzones connected by integral ribs, thereby reducing the cost ofmanufacture.

Prior to the improved methods set forth insaid former application forexpanded metal lath, expanded metal lath has habitually been made fromsteel sheets having characteristics and imperfections necessarilyresulting from the methods employed in their production, which impedethe operation of the lath machine and impair its efficiency; especiallywhen the sheets are slit longitudinally to form strands which arestretched or elongated for expanding without shortening the sheet. Thedeficiencies referred to are the lack of uniformity in thickness andtemper, the presence of transverse pipe flaws; and also the lack ofuniformity in the drawing qualities of the metal.

Such steel sheets are made from sheet bars which have been reduced by alongitudinal hot rolling from an ingot or a bloom to a width of eightinches or more, and a thickness of about one-fourth of an inch or more.These bars are cut into sections of some twenty-four inches long, whichare heated and rolled crosswise of the original bar and reduced by hotrolling and doubling to'produce a sheet from eight to twelve feet long,and slightly over twenty-four inches wide, with a thickness of abouttwenty-four gauge when intended for use in making expanded metal.

The hot rolls used for reducing ordinary sheets are of such a lengththat however well they may be turned, there is sufficient spring in therolls to make the side and edge portions of the finished sheets thinnerthan the intermediate portion thereof; and likewise the annealingprocesses make the side and edge portions of the sheets softer and moreductile than the'intermediate or middle portions.

These differences of thickness and temper may be so slight as to benegligible when sheets are used for ordinary purposes, but where theyare cut into three longitudinal strips of eight inches wide for makingexpanded sheets, the middle of each strip is so much thicker and harderthan the side strips, and each side strip is so much thinner and softerat the outer edge than at the inner edge, that it is impossible toadjust a lath machine to properly handle the doubly differential stripswithout frequent faults in the operation of the machine. Thesedifficulties are accentuated when a sheet strip so produced is expandedinto a sheet having a plurality of expanded zones with interveningnon-expanded ribs.

The method habitually employed for producing ordinary sheets alsopositions the original longitudinal grain of the sheet bar transverselyin the finished sheet; -and even though the grain may be partially orentirely eliminated by the cross rolling and doubling, there yet remainsthe pipe flaws originating in the ingot which extend longitudinally inthe sheet bar and then trans-,

versely in the finished sheet, and are frequently ruptured and parted bythe longitudinal stretching of the strand formed by the longitudinalslits in the sheet strips.

Furthermore, the necesslty of trimming the side edges of an ordinarysheet to makestrips of the exact width required for an expanded sheet,and the necessity of trimguides of a lath machine without buckling insheet bars to prevent sticking of the sheets in the hot rolling anddoubling proc esses, has prevented the production of sheets with thedesired ductility for the expanding processes, wherein the slitting,stretching and expanding operations can best be performed upon acomparatively soft metal having deep drawing or ductile qualities.

It has been sought to avoid or ameliorate the described deficiencies inthe product and the difficulties in the operation of a metal lathmachine by the methods set forth in our said prior application, but inthe production of strip sheets, as described therein, from hot rolledstrips, skelp or sheet bars, the necessary reduction of the strip sheetsto the exact width and gauge required for the slitting, stretching andexpanding operations, involves not only pickling and cold rollingoperations, but also a subsequent annealing of the metal to render thesame sufficiently soft and ductile for the slitting, stretching andexpanding operations.

The present improvement involves the direct reduction by a hot rollingoperation, of a billet or bar to a long'thin narrow strip or band, and awinding of the band in a tight coil before cooling, followed byslitting, stretching and expanding operations to form a single panelwith a rib flange on each edge, and a subsequent joining of a pluralityof such panels by securing their rib flanges directly together to form acommercial sheet comprising a plurality of expanded panels withintervening ribs.

The method of producing a thin band directly from a billet or bar,permits the use of metal having the phosphorous content reduced to aminimum, with a resulting increase in the ductile and drawing qualitiesthereof; and the narrow faced disk rolls used for reducing the billetsor bars gives the bands an absolutely uniform thickness from edge toedge, while the tight winding of the hot bands before cooling, preventsthe formation of an objectionable scale thereon and avoids the necessityof a pickling operation, and also results in a gradual cooling of thebands Which preserves the soft, ductile and uniform quality thereof,which is desirable, if not necessary, for the slitting, stretching andexpanding operations.

Furthermore, the extended length of the band greatly reduces the numberof forward ends which must he passed through an expanding machine, andeliminates the intervals which would occur between a series of shortersheets; and finally, the longitudinal reduction to a thin gauge,maintains the grain and pipe flaws lengthwise of the sheet, andeliminates the danger of rupture arising from a crosswise gram or atransverse pipe flaw.

The improved method may be carried out by the apparatus diagrammaticallyillustrated in the accompanying drawings, form: ing part hereof, inwhich- Flgure 1 is a side elevation of hot rolling ap aratus,illustrating the reduction of a bil et from a heating furnace to a thinband tightly coiled, and showing sections at different stages of thereduction Figs. 2, are plan and side elevation views in two sections ofslitting, stretching, expanding, straightening, flattening and shearingapparatus, illustrating the expansion of a thin band from a coil thereofinto a single panel with rib flanges on its edges;

Figs. 3, are plan views of rib welding assembling tables with andstraightening and sheet shearing apparatus, illustrating the formationfrom a single expandedpanel of a commercial sheet comprising a pluralofexpanded panels with intervening r1 s;

Figs. 4, are cross sections showing different stages of the slit-ting,expanding the rib flange forming operations; I

Fig. 5, is a fragmentary plan view of the completed product; and

Fig. 6, a section of same on Fig. 5.

Similar numerals refer to corresponding line 6-6,

parts throughout the figures of the draw- 1 mgs.

For the purpose of the present invention, a thin narrow band 7 is madeby a longitudinal hot rolling operation, directly from a billet or bar8, which has previously been heated preferably in a continuous furnace9, by a train of roughing rolls 10 and a train of reducing rolls 11 andthe band is imme-' diately wound in a tight coil 19. before it hascooled enough to form an objectionable scale on its surface, all asconventionally illustrated in Fig. 1.

In this manner, a billet 8 having a section of about two and one-halfinches square and 1 a length of some thirty feet, may be reduced by asingle heating to a sheet band about two and one-half inches wide andprefer ably of twenty-four gauge U. S. standard, or twenty-fivethousandths of an inch. in thickness.

The tight windin not only prevents the formation of an ob ectionablescale on its surfaces and renders a subsequent pickling operationunnecessary, but also causes the metal to cool so gradually as topreserve'it in the soft and ductile condition required for slitting,stretching and expanding operation, without the necessity of annealingthe same.

When the coiled band has cooled, it may then be formed and expanded byan apparatus and the methods of the general type illustrated anddescribed in our Patent No. 1,472,679, granted October 30, 1923, forexpanded metal manufacture, to produce a single panel with rib flangeson each side and having the form of mesh illustrated and described inour Patent No. 1,472,774, granted October 30, 1923 for expanded metal.

As shown in Figs. 2, the apparatus may include flanging rolls 13, strandslitting rolls 14, strand flattening'rolls 15, bond corrugating rolls16, flange ribbing rolls 17, diverging rib guides 18, 18 and 18" withintervening bond-corrugating strand-stretching rolls 19 and 19, followedby rib conveyer rolls 20, sheet straightening rolls 21, mesh flatteningrolls 22, and strip shearing rolls 23.

The edge portions of the band are bent by the rolls 13 to form normalflanges 7 on each side, as shown at section (Zd in Figs. 2 and 4; andthe intervening web portion 7 is cut by the rolls 14 into series ofinterrupted staggered slits to form strands 24 and bonds 25 in wellknown manner.

The slitted web portion of the band is then corrugated by the rolls 16to laterally incline and initially stretch the strands 24 and reverselycorrugate adjacent rows of bonds 25; and the normal edge flanges 7' arebent by the rolls 17 to form one side and the arched portion of a rib26, as shown at section ee in Figs. 2 and 4.

The rib flange 26 are then slidably engaged and separated by guides 18,18' and 18" and the strands are further stretched and the bands furthercorrugated by the rolls 19' and 19' to completely expand the Web portionof the sheet band and form meshes between the strands 24 and the bonds25, as shown in Fig. 5; after which the expanded band is straightened byrolls 21 and the expanded meshes are flattened by the rolls 22 tocomplete the formation of a single panel of expanded metal between ribflanges on each edge thereof, as shown at section ff in Figs. 2 and 4and also in Fig. 6.

The expanded panel 7 may then be cut by shearing rolls 23 into sectionsof convenient length of say thirty-two feet, which may be delivered onto a table 27 as shown in the left of Figs. 3; after which a pluralityof expanded panel sections may be assembled by engaging one rib-flangewith another on a table 28 on one side or the other of the deliverytable 27.

The rib flanges thus engaged may then be secured together as by a spotwelding apparatus 29 provided with disk electrodes 30, as shown in Figs.3; which completes the formation of an expanded sheet having together byintervening ribs, and the ribs may then be straightened by rolls 31 andthe sheet sheared by rolls 32 intocommercial lengths of say eight feet.

The described method of preparing bands entirely by longitudinal rollinginto very long lengths, of the required width and uniform thickness andtemper throughout, and with a longitudinal arrangement of the grain andsuch flaws as there may be in the metal; not only facilitates theoperation, reduces the losses, and increases the eflicienc and output ofthe lath machine, as describec but also improves the product by givingthe same a uniformity of thickness, strength and quality in each and allof its individual bonds and strands.

The extensive and rapidly increasing use of expanded metal lath as areinforcement in concrete floors and other building construction,requires a uniformity in the strength of the individual bonds andstrands, which perform the function of tension truss members in suchconstruction, to avoid a failure in any portion thereof which would bedetrimental or destructive of the whole; and the described method ofmaking expanded metal lath produces the same without any transverselyextending flaws in its tension members and eliminates such cause of afailure therein.

Furthermore, the method of expandin single panels from narrow strips hotrolled longitudinally and tightly coiled as described, eliminating thesteps of pickling, cold rolling and annealing which are otherwiserequired; and by directly interengaging and securing together the ribflanges of such single panels, an expanded sheet can be made of anydesired width and number of panels, which is not. only more uniform inthe thickness and strength of its expanded meshes, but is stronger inthe overlapping arched portion of its ribs.

The scope of the invention is not limited to the particular hot rollingand spot welding apparatus used herein for illustrated purposes; nor tothe particular lath making machine and methods described herein, forobviously the improved method of making expanded metal lath isapplicable to other lath making machines and methods, with many if notall the advantages and beneficial results which are set forth herein.

We claim 1. The method of making expanded metal, which includes heatingand hot rolling billets or bars longitudinally only to form thin bandsdirectly, and then slitting the bands to form bonds and strands andexpanding the resultant meshes.

2. The method of making expanded metal, which includes heating and hotrolling billets and bars longitudinally to form thin a plurality ofexpanded panels connected bands and tightly coiling the same beforecooling, then slitting the bands to form bonds and strands and expandingthe resultant meshes.

3. The method of making expanded metal, which includes heating and hotrolling billets or bars longitudinally to form thin bands and tightlycoiling the same before cooling, then slitting the bands to form bondsand strands and expanding the resultant meshes by longitudinallystretching the strands.

4. The method of making expanded metal which includes heating and hotrolling billets or bars longitudinally only to form thin bands directly,then expanding the middle portion and forming rib flanges on each edgeportion of the band, and then securing the rib flanges" together to forma sheet with a plurality of panels and intervening ribs.

5. The method of making expanded metal which includes heating and hotrolling billets or bars longitudinally only to form thin bands directly,then expanding the middle portion and forming rib flanges on each edgeportion of the band, and then interengaging and securing the rib flangestogether to form a sheet with a plurality of panels and interveningribs.

In testimony that we claim the above, .We have hereunto subcribed ournames.

HARRY M. NAUGLE. ARTHUR J. TOWNSEND.

